HARINGEY COUNCIL ABUSED POSITION OVER SKATE PARK CONTROVERSY

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Liberal Democrat councillors from Muswell Hill and Crouch End are urgently seeking details of the correspondence between Thames Water and Haringey Council with regard to the sitting of a new skate park in Priory Park, N8.

The call comes after it was revealed that Haringey Council was told as long ago as February that the site was unsuitable due to large open drainage chambers situated beneath the concrete area outlined for the construction.

This news has alarmed Lib Dems who earlier this month received a response to a question regarding consultation between Thames Water and the Council that stated:

“Farrer Huxley Associates (Landscape Architects) undertook preliminary consultation with Thames Water between February and March 2005; however no conclusive feedback was received from Thames Water.”

They now are demanding all correspondence between Thames Water and the Council to establish what comments Thames Water have really made about the sitting of the skate park.

Councillors Gail Engert (Muswell Hill) and David Winskill (Crouch End) are concerned that once again councillors and local residents are being kept in the dark over the skate park development. They say that if the reports are true, Haringey Council has abused its power, wasted public money, and failed to answer Council questions openly and honestly.

Cllr Engert (Muswell Hill) comments:

“It is deeply worrying that ten months after Thames Water apparently said the site was unsuitable, Haringey Council continues to waste thousands of pounds of local tax payers money pursuing something that is a non-starter.”

Cllr Winskill (Crouch End) adds:

“If the reports are true then Labour-run Haringey Council has deceived councillors and local residents about their discussions with Thames Water. We are urgently seeking the correspondence between Thames Water and the Council to establish the facts.”

LIB DEMS SECURE CLEAN UP OF MUSWELL AND FORTIS GREEN WITH HELP FROM LOCAL KIDS

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Liberal Democrat councillors in Haringey have welcomed the clean-up of graffiti and dumped rubbish along Coppetts Road, Tetherdown and the junction with Creighton Avenue after Cllr Martin Newton photographed some of the eyesores spotted by children at Coldfall Primary School, and sent them to Haringey Council.

This followed a School Council meeting on 4th November attended by Lib Dem councillors Gail Engert and Martin Newton, where children were asked about any concerns they had about the area. Issues raised ranged from abandoned vehicles to smells from drains, as well as the graffiti and dumping. All these issues have been taken up with Haringey Council.

Coppetts Road is on the border with Barnet Council, who have also co-operated by removing graffiti from a wall leading to the recreation ground.

Cllr Newton (Fortis Green) comments:

“Young children care about their environment and can feel unsafe and intimidated if there is graffiti and dumping. Following this successful clean-up, we will continue to monitor the area and take note of issues raised by residents of all ages.”

Cllr Engert (Muswell Hill) adds:

“This confirms my belief that we should be listening to young people. They are our future and can often view their locality with an insight and freshness that adults often do not have the time for.”

Alcohol problems

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Over to Stratford to the Drugs and Alcohol Service London AGM where I am giving a keynote speak on alcohol. The other key speaker is from Alcohol Concern and the statistics she gave were truly scary. I think we need to be doing quite a lot of work in terms of how to displace the excessive drinking activity that plagues so many areas and people.

We need alternative night-time economy ideas (late night museums and non-alcoholic pubs) and so much more effort in terms of aspiration and how to spend our time. Of course, the relaxation of the licensing laws is ill-timed and probably previous – but you have to hope that we can create a society where it will be ok for people to decide for themselves when they want to drink. The problem – we just ain’t there yet!

17 seconds wait for a cab?

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Digital Conference on Thursday. I am not sure how I got to be keynote speaker at this breakfast at the RSA – but here I am. The company that invited me – Panlogic – turns out to have come across me through one of their directors living in the constituency, reading my blog and visiting my website. As the research they are launching today is basically about e-marketing and demonstrates that the age group between 50 and 65 (us ex-hippies with conscience, peace and love man) are still desperately caring people who want to engage in issues and change things for the better. I think their research is spot on.

Day of two speeches really. In the evening I go to one of those wonderful old city halls as keynote speaker at the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Dinner. To you and me – a black cab evening. I am hand-clapped in with the ‘Master’ and other honoured guests in time honoured tradition. I get a quick briefing on how I will address the company. Dinner is enjoyable and I am lucky in that the guest to my right, the Master and the Master Clock Maker (a woman on the other side of the Master) are all absolutely delightful company. In fact, Diana, turns out to have been a constituent but has moved away now. She is a wonderful example of the changing face of the city in that she is the first-ever female Master Clock Maker – and that spans about four centuries.

Anyway, I am there to give a speech after dinner. I have crafted it quite carefully as the LTDA (one of the representative groups for drivers) has previously attacked me for saying there are not enough cabs around due to a driver shortage. They counter-claimed saying that you never have to wait longer than 19 seconds to hail a taxi in central London. Tell that to poor Susan Kramer who waited 25 minutes outside Parliament only this last week! It was rubbish – but there is a kind of jobs for the boys section of the trade who do not actually want to reach the targets set by Transport for London. Last year when I annoyed them evidence had gone to the Transport for London Board showing that there was a shortage of 1,200 black cabs and 4,500 private hire cabs. The concern has to be that if there are not legitimate cabs to hand – people will use the touts with all the dangers that entails.

I wafted across the need to crack down on touts, the Olympics and told my David Blunkett joke. And then home. Or so I thought. Having come by Tube, I got on the Tube home. But – hey ho – it’s the Northern Line and the Barnet branch was suspended. So I got off at Camden and after half an hour waiting for my 19-second taxi I got back on the Tube and went to Golders Green. No 210 and no taxi. Dying of cold and now about quarter to one in the morning, I phoned a private hire company and eventually a mini-cab came for me.

MP PRAISES NEW DEMOCRACY WEBSITE

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Lynne Featherstone MP has praised a new website aimed at encouraging MPs to report back to their constituents.

The website www.HearFromYourMP.com was launched in Parliament this week.The site allows people to sign up to receive a report on the work of their MP.It also uses the internet as a forum for discussion and feedback on the MP’s report.

Lynne, who was one of the first MPs to pilot the new website, commented:

“We are seeing an increasing number of sites appearing on the internet that are designed to help people to participate in democracy.I want to use these resources as fully as possible, and I want to encourage people with internet access to sign up to them as well.This site nicely ties in with my award winning-blog diary on my own website http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org

“This site is all about building up a closer relationship between an MP and their constituents.It is not just about making the MP accountable, but making sure people are informed about what their MP is doing and improving access to what can sometimes be a daunting political system.”

The website works by building up a list of people who want to hear from their MP.When enough have signed up, the MP will get sent an email with a message saying, for example, ’20 of your constituents would like to hear a report of your recent work’.Nearly 60 people have already signed up to hear from Lynne Featherstone MP.

The site is one of a number created by the group mySociety to improve the civic and community aspects of people’s lives.MySociety Director Tom Steinberg commented:

“The aim of HearFromYourMP is to give people a means of finding out what their MP is doing in the same way as http://www.theyworkforyou.com is, but in a way that enables direct public debate on issues raised.

“We have already received a good response to the site from MPs and the electorate, and we hope it will be a valuable addition to the growing number of websites encouraging democratic participation.”

LIB DEMS CONTINUE TO PRESS FOR HGV SOLUTION

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Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson, Cllr Susan Oatway, has stepped up her campaign to tackle the problem of HGVs using residential roads in the Alexandra/ Muswell Hill area by contacting the police about the problem.

Cllr Oatway, who met with Haringey Council earlier this month regarding this and other transport issues, is seeking clarification over whether the police would provide enforcement if HGV restrictions were applied to certain areas.

Furthermore she is keen to establish what powers to prosecute the police would have and be willing to use should a member of the public photograph an HGV violating restrictions. This follows residents in one of the worst affected roads, Dukes Avenue, offer to monitor and photograph HGVs violating any restrictions applied to these vehicles in the area.

Cllr Oatway will meet again with Haringey Council in January, where she will view traffic data for the area which is being collated as part of survey for the A406 project. This will detail HGV use and will give both Cllr Oatway and the Council an idea of the real scale of the problem.

Cllr Oatway (Alexandra) comments:

“HGVs rumbling through residential roads at all hours of the day can be a source of great misery to residents so it is important that this issue is addressed.

“I am currently investigating the practicalities of enforcing HGV restrictions so that come January I should have the information I need to suggest solutions that the Council will take up.”

Crima Facie Evidence

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It’s good to talk! And Sir Ian Blair, Met Police Commissioner, wants to talk to us – the people – to engage with us on what sort of policing we want. Now Sir Ian is a very clever man. Sir Ian will only want to be talking if he wants something out of us.

My guess is that when Sir Ian says that we need to think whether we want more police teams on the beat; or more police put on the fight against terrorism, or better detection of identity fraud, or stopping trafficking and drug dealing, prostitution, car crime and graffiti and all, he knows it’s not ‘or’ – it’s ‘and’ – the whole caboodle.

So call me cynical, but I suspect his ‘conversation’ is all about a public mandate to ask for more resources. And if that’s what the public say they need – then we may well find that we the public are then asked to pay more for it.

First though, credit where credit’s due. Ian Blair’s recent major speech came over as thoughtful and showed more understanding than the Government seems to have about fighting terrorism – such as warning that the London bombings shouldn’t lead to a wholesale transformation of policing attitudes.

His point that crime-fighting policies attract a lot of interest, but relatively little serious discussion or research compared with health or education is also a good one. And it was good to hear him make a point I’ve often made – that far too often the police are left to pick up the pieces when society fails to care properly for those with mental health problems.

But then there’s the not so good: Ian Blair’s appearance on various news bulletins whilst seemingly not in possession of the full facts about the unfortunate shooting of Mr de Menezes and the revelation of his alleged attempt to hinder the Independent Police Complaint Commission Inquiry into that shooting have brought his judgement into question.

Sit this alongside the recent attempt to lobby politicians by the most senior police officers over the 90 days detention without charge and right now, you will find that many are very, very angry with Sir Ian indeed.

To many – including me – this has crossed a line. It is undoubtedly the police service’s duty to brief politicians – but when that briefing turns to lobbying it oversteps the mark.

During the general election he also overstepped the mark when he made a public statement as to his views on identity cards. It certainly seems that we are dealing with quite a different and far more political animal than his predecessor. Perhaps what is needed is a bit less show time and showbiz from our Commissioner.

It’s striking also that his concept of modern policing involves more police and more police powers and that’s pretty much the end of the story so far. Now – I’m all in favour of the new local police teams, putting more police on the streets in our communities in Haringey. But where’s the joined up thinking when at the same time Labour is wanting to axe the funding for so many community wardens in Haringey? And where’s the broader conception of the police service? There’s still too much of a drift away from local police stations to remote, impersonal centralised sites – with many police stations nearly impossible to easily contact on the phone.

The tragic recent shooting of two women police constables on duty is a timely reminder of the ultimate sacrifice that the police are called, thankfully rarely, to make on our behalf. It’s a reminder of the brilliant job they do – day in, day out – in fighting crime and protecting us from harm.

The respect and gratitude we feel and owe to our police force must not be compromised or tarnished by poor judgement or decisions by those at the top.

Northern Ireland

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Still not quite myself – but hurl up to Parliament to be at Home Affairs Team meeting followed by Prime Minister’s Questions. Very lack lustre today on all sides. Think House is depressed by death of the policewoman to whom all pay tribute. Is Tony just draining away?

At lunchtime I meet with some associates from Enfield about the proposed closure of Chase Farm Hospital’s A&E facility as it will have a knock on effect for us in Hornsey & Wood Green as some patients will then crowd into the North Middlesex and so on. Three hours then of reading and signing.

The debate today is on Northern Ireland and there are feelings running high with the Government’s proposals to let go those who are suspected of murders but were not convicted. Lembit Opik, who is our Shadow Secretary for Northern Ireland was to be leading for us in the debate, but shockingly his brother died the night before of a heart attack aged 37. We are all really upset for Lembit – who actually does turn up to speak during the debate very bravely. He says he feels it is so important that even with the tragic personal event he wanted to come and have his say, and return to his family.

In the evening – we the Lib Dem intake of 05.05.05 (called the 555 Group) are having dinner with Charles Kennedy. But – it was private!!

Sports facilities for Haringey children

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Rush up to New Scotland Yard for meeting with Sir Ian Blair. I accompany our Shadow Home Secretary – Mark Oaten – as I am Police Spokesperson for the Lib Dems and worked with Sir Ian for 5 years on the Metropolitan Police Authority. The meeting was private, not unnaturally, but it wouldn’t be talking out of school to say that it covered the ground you would expect in terms of the terror bill, Sir Ian’s ‘debate’ with the people over the future of policing; the shooting of Mr de Menezes and the proposal to merge police forces. (My latest newspaper column has more on all this).

Then literally dash back to the constituency to go to the opening of the new facilities at the New River Sports Centre. Barclays have put in £600,000 as part of their program for sports spaces right across the country. Although they will undoubtedly get great advertising out of it – you have to be impressed with the re-invented tennis and football and track facilities. I hope we get at least one kid who comes from Haringey through this system and into the Olympics in 2012!

60 kids from Broadwater Primary School are joining us for the cameras and events etc – but their coach has broken down and they are late and having to come on public transport the rest of the way. Luckily the day is gloriously sunny (though cold) and they eventually arrive and the ceremonies begin. I am there, as is Charles Adje, Council Leader, and we obligingly do as we are told for the photo ops. Two Tottenham Hotspurs players (both Michaels) are there as is a chap from GMTV. Celebs or what!

A great day and great hopes for the future.

Then – dash, dash, dash, via my HQ to do signing and reading back up to Westminster for debate, meetings and discussions. We vote at 7 and 10pm on climate change and then home.

LIB DEMS WELCOME ISLAM AWARENESS WEEK TO HARINGEY

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Haringey Liberal Democrat council group will be supporting an event hosted by the Islamic Society of Britain North London this Friday (25th November) to celebrate Islam Awareness Week which runs from 21st – 27th November.

The event, which will take place at Haringey Civic Centre, is aimed at increasing awareness and understanding and to celebrate 1000 years of Islam in Britain. It is open to all and begins at 6.30pm.

Hosts of the event, the Islamic Society of Britain, were established in 1990 as vehicle for committed British Muslims to promote Islam and Islamic values and its relevance to modern British society.

They have been heavily involved in the successful promotion of Islam Awareness Week, which is now in its twelfth year.

The two local MPs, councillors and representatives from the police, the three local mosques and other local faith leaders have been invited to attend the event.

Speakers will include the Mayor of Haringey, the Bishop of Edmonton and representatives of Islamic Society of Britain.

Haringey Lib Dems, who have assisted in setting the event up, are delighted that an event to celebrate a 1,000 years of Muslim contribution to Britain is going to be held in Haringey.

Lib Dem Community Involvement Spokesperson, Cllr Susan Oatway comments:

“It is great that an event to celebrate Islam Awareness Week is being held and I hope that people will take this opportunity to learn about what it means to be a Muslim in Britain.”